The Hound Of The Baskervilles (1939/Rathbone/Fox/MPI DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B- Film: B-
PLEASE NOTE: This film is now available on
Blu-ray from MPI in a Sherlock Holmes set with all the Rathbone/Bruce films and
you can read all about it at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10830/The+Complete+Sherlock+Holmes+Col
It
launched one of the shortest, yet most legendary and successful of all B-movie
detective series. 20th Century-Fox launched it, but let it go to
Universal and the rest is history. Fox made the first two films and they
are the only two set in the period of the books. The first is one of the
best-known of many adaptations of The
Hound Of The Baskervilles (1939), which introduced the world to Basil
Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. John H. Watson.
The title
refers to the title family cursed by the title beast. Unlike many Holmes
cases, he gets this one a bit later than he usually would, always having a sort
of disconnectedness to this particular case atypical of Holmes stories.
That quickly changes when he takes on the case. From there, Fox is able
to supply a cast that includes Wendie Barrie, Lionel Atwill and John Carradine,
which all remakes since have tried to match in one way or another. It may
not be the book, but it is undeniably a key work in the Holmes cannon that
cannot be ignored.
The 1.33
X 1 full frame monochrome image is from a very clean restored print. I
knew the Universal installments were in bad shape, but the Fox films were also
in need of help like any film that is not actively being restored. This
is a bit soft, but the Video Black is very consistent and the restoration work
is seamless. Cinematographer Peverell Marley, A.S.C., juggles a period
look with pre-Noir Detective genre needs in a synergy that set the tone for the
series and follows Holmes and all such films to this day. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Mono comes from a decent sound restoration that has little
distortion or background noise of any kind, and Cyril J. Mockridge’s score is
limited to the beginning segments of the film. It still works, but so do
the silences.
Extras
include a booklet inside the DVD case on the film, a motion section with stills
and posters for the film, trailers for three of the later Universal films and
yet another outstanding commentary by Holmes scholar David Stuart Davies, which
are among the few must-hears in all of DVD audio commentaries.
Many
people tend to enjoy the 1959 Hammer Films version of this tale with Peter
Cushing as Holmes, but it seems less kinetic and effective than this
version. It still had a good cast and the color film was not bad, but
despite the many compromises made here to keep the film at 80 minutes, director
Sidney Lanfield’s version moves along well, has snap to it, and is never
boring. This 1939 Hound Of The
Baskervilles still remains the best theatrical film version yet and will
stay important no matter how many times it is reattempted.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
